Prominent Democratic governors initially offered generous tax breaks and regulatory favors to attract data centers, citing jobs, union support, national-security signaling and tech investment. Rapid AI adoption increased data-center demand and concentrated facilities in places like Chicago and parts of Pennsylvania. Residents began attributing higher household electricity bills to data-center power consumption and expressed concern about AI-driven job losses. Governors responded by pausing incentives, calling for additional oversight, or softening prior pro–data-center policies. Notable actions include a proposed two-year moratorium on incentives in Illinois and calls for stricter expectations and oversight in Pennsylvania and Maryland.
"Just a few months ago, potential 2028 presidential candidates - including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore - were bending over backwards to lure data centers, with offers of lavish tax breaks and other goodies. The projects seemed like no-brainers to many pols: They promised jobs, made building trade unions happy, took on China and pleased Silicon Valley execs. Now those Democrats are abruptly retreating - and vowing to protect voters from the consequences of the AI revolution."
"The reason for the pivot: From MAGA country to liberal Prince George's County in Maryland's D.C. suburbs, Americans are increasingly blaming the power-sucking centers for high energy bills - and they're freaked out about AI's ability to eliminate jobs. Zoom in: Before the dawn of ChatGPT, Pritzker signed legislation in 2019 doling out tax breaks for data centers. AI took off and Chicago became one of the nation's biggest data-center hubs. But households' electricity bills went up, and some faulted data centers."
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